Saudi Arabia will move forward with their nuclear development program whether the United States is on board or not as “there are others that are bidding” to help, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Thursday after meeting with U.S. secretary of state Antony Blinken.

“It’s no secret that we are developing our domestic civilian nuclear program and we would very much prefer to be able to have the U.S. as one of the bidders,” Foreign Minister prince Faisal bin Farhan said. “Obviously we would like to build our program with the best technology in the world.”

The statement comes as the Biden administration struggles to broker a deal with the Arab nation to normalize its relationship with Israel. Reports circled before Blinken’s trip to the oil-rich country that Saudi leaders were conditioning the agreement on “boosted U.S. defense sales and assent for a Saudi civilian nuclear program.”

[These guys couldn’t make a deal to save their lives. Especially in regard to the Saudis, Biden and his team have played checkers in a 3D-chess world, and playing checkers badly at that. — Ed]